Cape Horn & Straits of Magellan Pelagic Cruise - Info

So we have set up this tour, to join the Coral Princess cruise ship sailing out of Santiago, Chile on 4th February 2021 and ending up in Buenos Aires where the tour finishes on Thursday 18th February. Yes, this is a full, working cruise ship that can house 2,000 guests, has 1,000 cabins and has 16 decks. All meals are included along with an assortment of beverages. And I know what you are thinking, that this sounds horrible and i'd rather go on one of the Russian research vessels that house only 50 people and are purely for wildlife watching. If you think that, then you probably shouldn't read on as this is not the tour for you. But just look at the cost.... 

My philosophy for this tour is that the tour leaders will be available 'on deck' from sunrise to sunset (approx 5.30am-9pm) and that members of the group can join in for as much as they want. We can set our scopes up as the ship is so stable and we'll be about 200 feet above the ocean with a great view. 

Oh, by the way this is a perfect tour to bring a non-birding partner as the cabins are wonderful, and there's shopping, an art gallery, swimming pool, hot tub, casino, room service, music, dancing and various forms of entertainment, and food is available 24/7....

King Penguin copyright Tracey Barber

Snowy Sheathbill copyright Nick Bray

Dolphin Gulls copyright Nick Bray

The scenery at Tierra del Fuego is stunning. 
I took this photo on my last visit to Ushuaia.

Back to the birding. There are 7 land-based excursions that we have made arrangements for as follows:

Puerto Montt for species such as Flightless Steamer-Duck, Black-throated Huet-Huet, Chucao Tapaculo, Des Mur's Wiretail etc

Punta Arenas - Magellanic Plover, Imperial Cormorant, Tawny-throated and Rufous-chested Dotterels, Band-tailed Earthcreeper, Black-throated Finch

Ushuaia - Great Grebe, Dolphin Gull, Magellanic Woodpecker, White-throated Caracara, Dark-bellied Cinclodes.

Falkland Islands - King, Gentoo & Magellanic Penguins, Falklands Steamer-Duck, White-Bridled Finch.

Puerto Madryn/Valdes Peninsula - Lesser Rhea, Snowy Sheathbill, Elegant Crested Tinamou, Patagonian Canastero

Montevideo - Giant Wood-Rail, Rufous-sided Crake, Spot-flanked Gallinule, White-spotted Woodpecker, Black-and-rufous Warbling-Finch

Buenos Aires/Costanero Sur - Coscoroba Swan, Rosy-billed Pochard, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Lake Duck, Freckle-breasted Thornbird, Yellow-billed Cardinal, Golden-billed Saltator

Obviously that's just a small selection of the potential species. 

For a full description please go to our website to view further details: Cape Horn Pelagic 
For more info from the Princes Cruises website about this cruise, amenities, cabins pricing etc just follow this link: Cruising

Diademed Sandpiper-Plover copyright Rodrigo Tapia

Oh and there is also a pre-cruise extension to various birding sites around Santiago with the ultimate prize of Diademed Sandpiper-Plover. But there's a number of Chilean endemics and localised specialities also to find such as Chilean Tinamou, Stripe-backed Bittern, Chilean Flicker, Dusky-tailed Canastero, Crag Chilia, Moustached Turca, Creamy-rumped Miner, Chilean Mockingbird and much more. 

A post-tour extension once the cruise is over will take us to the steppe north of Buenos Aires to Ceibas just to add some more new land-based lifers such as Lark-like Brushrunner, White-naped Xenopsaris, Black-capped Warbling-Finch and many others. We will add further details on the post-tour extension very soon.

In the next blog post we can take a look at what we've really come for - the seabirds.

Antipodean (Wandering) Albatross copyright Nick Bray